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The emergence of the "Ancient State" is considered an important stage in the discourse on human civilizations. Based on its complex and hierarchical social structure, the Shuanghuaishu site of Henan Province is regarded as an "Ancient state", specifically the "Heluo Ancient State". The site is situated in the middle reaches of the Yellow River region and played a key role in prehistoric China. However, the reasons behind its decline are unclear. Here, we conducted an integrated investigation of the archaeological excavations and archaeoseismic analyses at the Shuanghuaishu site. We identified paleoseismic remains within paleo-artificial moats, which were formed owing to off-fault structures of soil liquefaction, hillslope landslides, and related ground fractures, along with shake-related wall disruption and building collapse in the residential zone. Charcoal dating was conducted to constrain the age for this earthquake event, which was determined to be approximately 5.0 cal kyr BP. Furthermore, based on the practical curve for earthquake-induced liquefaction, the preliminary estimate of the magnitude of this paleoseismic event is greater than Ms5.9–6.0. We propose that the Shuanghuaishu site experienced a recession after the earthquake event, which may have influenced the continuous development of the "Heluo Ancient State" as a regional center settlement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Silo-cave is a unique human habitation form on the Loess Plateau in northern China, which consists of an excavated 6–7 m deep pit as the courtyard and cave dwellings in the surrounding four walls. This architecture has had a history of more than 7000 years, and yet such "living fossils for the history of dwellings" are now facing great crises and challenges during rapid social and economic development. In this paper, remote sensing and GIS techniques are used to comprehensively and systematically investigate the spatial distributions and morphological characteristics of silo-caves at both the macro and micro scales. The research shows that silo-cave villages are mainly distributed in economically underdeveloped areas, such as West Henan (Yuxi), South Shanxi (Jinnan), Central Shaanxi (Guanzhong), and East Gansu (Longdong). The morphological evolution patterns of typical silo-cave villages are identified, including: (1) retaining the periphery and rebuilding the inner parts of the villages, (2) retaining the inner parts and expanding the periphery of the villages, and (3) rebuilding the inner parts and expanding the periphery of the villages. These patterns are demonstrated to be influenced by many factors, including landforms, traffic conditions, economic development, population growth, and administrative division adjustment. Sustainable development of these traditional silo-cave villages relies on administrative policy and planning, people's awareness of cultural heritage protection, culture inheritance, industrial transformation, and public services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The introduction of wheat into China between ~4500 and 4000 cal. a BP is thought to have restructured the ancient Chinese agricultural system and contributed to the formation and development of Chinese civilization. However, the spatial variation in agricultural development before and after the introduction of exotic crops across the Yellow River valley has not yet been discussed in detail. Here, we report new archaeobotanical data and radiocarbon dates from 25 sites in Sanmenxia, Henan Province, which was a hub for human migration in the middle reach of the Yellow River. Integrating our data with those of other archaeobotanical studies in northern China confirms that spatial cropping patterns in the Yellow River valley changed significantly around 4000 cal. a BP in the context of trans-Eurasia exchanges. From 7000 to 4000 cal. a BP, millet crops in the upper and middle Yellow River valley dominated the agricultural system, while mixed millet and rice agriculture developed in the lower Yellow River valley. In the subsequent period (4000–2200 cal. a BP), the cropping system in the upper Yellow River valley changed predominantly to barley and wheat agriculture, supplemented with millets. The contemporaneous cropping system in the middle and lower Yellow River valley, however, was dominated by millets, supplemented with wheat and rice. We argue that technological innovation and its dissemination in the context of trans-Eurasian cultural exchanges provided the basis for changes in the agricultural systems in northern China during the Bronze Age. Additionally, the trajectory of agricultural development was influenced by the natural environment and social change in different regions of the Yellow River valley. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hidden linear ancient cultural relics were discovered in the alluvial plain of Eastern Henan province (China) using historical archive of aerial photographs and further confirmed by regional features, historical documents and recent archaeological progress. The discovered relics included large-scale man-made ditches, canals and dock relics in Shangqiu and circular moat relics in Luyi. According to historical documents and archaeological researches, we discussed the cultural types and natures of the relics discovered by remote sensing images. On this basis, more pertinent and operable interpretation marks were proposed focusing on hidden linear ancient cultural relics in the alluvial plain. To improve the interpretation of the traditional crop, soil and shadow marks, we also included indexes of scale, continuity, shape and clustering. Our research highlights the macroscopic and spectrographic observation capability of remote sensing in discovering large-scale, massive, surface distribution of ancient cultural relics. In the test area, the solution of image interpretation was proposed through a combined feature identification of scale, continuity, shape and clustering. The derived thematic map demonstrated that the proposed solution is effective for discovering ancient remains in the alluvial plain of eastern Henan, China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The environment exerts a strong influence on the development of ancient agricultural systems, however ancient environmental conditions are often poorly understood in comparison to the development of ancient agricultural systems. In this study, we investigated the temporal patterns of crop distributions from the Neolithic to Bronze Age (9000-2300 yr BP) in the Songshan Mountain area of Henan Province, China in relation to the landforms. Our results show that broomcorn and foxtail were widely distributed across all landforms, regardless of the time period, but more sites are located on hills and mesas and less on the plains. Rice remains dating to the Peiligang period (9000-7000 yr BP) are only found in the plains. While some rice sites are distributed in the hill and mesa areas during the Yangshao period (7000-5000 yr BP), the plains are still the major area where rice sites are found. During the Longshan period (5000-4000 yr BP), soybeans are found at sites located on both mesas and plains. Wheat first appeared during the Erlitou periods (3900-3600 yr BP or 1900–1600 BC) in the region, but the evidence is too limited to determine its landform preference. In the following Shang (3600-3046 yr BP or 1600–1046 BC) and Zhou (3046-2256 yr BP or 1046–256 BC) dynasties, this crop was widely distributed at sites in hills, mesas and plains. Our study reveals that different landforms provide preferred ecological conditions for certain types of agricultural development and played a key role in determining farming styles: dry-farming or rice-farming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]